Different systems use the Internet as a means of transferring data, but such systems are typically not capable of sending text messages from the Internet and converting them into vocal messages on a telephone line.
By means of an IP connection it is possible to download songs, to telephone, to send e-mail messages, and to send SMS messages.
The most common peripheral unit, available for everyone, to be connected to the Internet is the modem. This word is a mixture of two words, modulator and demodulator. The function of a modem is to convert digital data in the form of electric pulses into a form that can be used for transmission on normal telephone lines. Therefore, the modem converts electric signals coming from the computer into sounds and permits their transmission by means of the telephone line. The receiving modem makes the opposite operation: as soon as it receives the sounds from the telephone line, it reconverts them into electric signals in order to make them available to the computer it is connected to. This further operation is called demodulation. Technical evolutions of modems include new peripheral units and digital platforms that send data on a suitably shaped line without any need to convert them into sounds, such as ISDN data transmitting cards. Another resource available to users is the DSL connection. Using this system it is possible to divide the vocal transmission from the data transmission by using particular filters.
Also referring to Internet connections, another available technology for users is the system of connection by satellites. Thanks to these systems even people who are not experts at hardware and software can surf on the Internet, send e-mail messages, send SMS messages, and send and receive fax and other related operations. By means of data transmitting cards, permitting the transmission of complex data in audio and even video forms, also called technological platforms, many companies develop more and more complex programs and applications in order to provide firms with ancillary services.
One of the easiest ways to send communications with a telephone, using the Internet, is writing SMS messages. For this purpose, the user fills in a form on the web writing a text message and sends it to a server/gateway that transfers it to the mobile number the message is directed to.
However, this means of communication has some drawbacks. SMS messages are short and the communication reaches almost exclusively the users of the country where the portal works. In addition, these SMS messages reach neither cordless phones not using the GSM system nor common house telephones. The communication that reaches the final destination is mainly textual, in the form of a message that can be read on a display, not vocal. Another important characteristic is that users cannot verify immediately the result of the SMS message sent on-line.
“Text-to-speech” (TTS) technology exists, which permits some interactions via internet/telephone. By these means, an Internet/telephone service where TTS is in use allows a service subscriber to receive a notification that a message has arrived on the phone or a notification to dial a telephone number and listen to the message in the form of speech. Nevertheless, this system is not convenient as it needs registrations, and is limited and not easy to be used by an inexpert user. The TTS technology principally reads text and converts the text to speech. TTS technology has been useful for teaching, utility and support purposes, in particular for those who are disabled and blind, but as regards to its use with telephone interactions, it is mostly based on “inbound” applications, i.e., centered in order to support inbound and not outbound communications. Vocal tree menus are an example and are used by companies in order to automatically provide a caller with information.
Other systems permitting communication by voice with another user via the Internet also exist. But with the traditional methods, people holding a single telephone line cannot communicate by voice in a simple and comfortable way through the computer with another telephone. In fact, in order to make a call using the Internet, the user needs software, loudspeakers and microphones. An Internet user is not able to send text messages to the designated telephones, except for the messages appearing on the display of the phone.
Also, e-mails, the most widespread means of communication via the web, cannot give guaranties about the correct receipt of the communication by the addressee. As a matter of fact, a simple automatic acknowledge transmission of the e-mail by the addressee to the sender is not sufficient to say he/she has entirely read the communication or understood its meaning.